The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - Russell Peters - Inaccurate Racism

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

My HoneyDew this week is Russell Peters! Russell Highlights Lowlights about mistaken racism & why he found it way more comfortable hanging out with black kids. Russell gets deep on Catholicism and what it was like growing up an outcast. SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube and watch full episodes of The Dew every toozdee! https://www.youtube.com/rsickler SUBSCRIBE to my Patreon, The HoneyDew with Y’all, where I Highlight the Lowlights with Y’all! What’s your story? https://www.patreon.com/TheHoneyDew SPONSORS: LIQUID I.V. Grab your Strawberry Liquid I.V. and their other great flavors in bulk nationwide at Costco or you can get 25% off when you go to LIQUIDIV.COM and use code HONEYDEW at checkout. KEEPS If you’re ready to take action and prevent hair loss, go to KEEPS.COM/HONEYDEW to receive your first month of treatment for FREE!

This episode of The Honeydew is brought to you by Liquid IV and Keeps. More on that later. Let's get into the do. The Honeydew with Ryan Sickler. Welcome back to The Honeydew, y'all. We're over here doing it in the Nightpan Studios. I am Ryan Sickler. Ryan Sickler on all social media.

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Now you know we record here at the Santa Monica Music Center. And working with this... Oh, Gus is making me laugh. Working with these kids right now on Outreach Through the Arts. At-risk kids with the Santa Monica Police Department. And

we're teaching them how to podcast, editing cameras, everything that goes into bringing a show like this out there. And I got to tell you, they're loving it. We're loving it. So I'll keep you updated on that. We had the chief of police, Santa Monica Police, in here. She was in here. Black lady, by the way.

That lady, yeah, setting. She's over there making history. So she was in here. They're, by the way. That lady, yeah, setting. She's over there making history. So she was in here. They're excited about the program. I'm excited about it. Just something I want to tell you all about. How many of these kids do you think are going to flip it into an OnlyFans? We haven't taught them about that yet. We're only three classes

deep. So, real quick, you know what we do here. We highlight the lowlights. Apparently you're highlighting a lowlight. These are the stories behind the storytellers. And as you can see, ladies and gentlemen, our guest this week, Russell Peters, y'all. Hey, look at that.

I got the clap from you. Thank you for being here, brother. Thanks, Ryan. It's good what you're doing to these kids. For these kids, brother. Thank you. Well said. Yeah, you got to say, the words are very important.

Doing for and doing to are very different things. Very different. Yeah, doing for is what you're doing, and doing to is what the Catholic Church does. That's right. Thank you. Thank you. Why I left the Catholic Church. Me too.

Before we get into your life life your stories please promote everything and anything you have a new podcast new podcast culturally canceled on iheart radio uh it's just a hang basically we do it in my backyard we sit around we drink we smoke cigars we talk shit and it's uh you know we've had all kinds of i like to put three people on at a time just to fuck up the energy in the room you know what i mean like so it's like so you know who did i have i think i had uh i had kangol kid from utfo okay smooth b from nice and smooth uh lord finesse and myself was like i think the very first one we did we just had around talked about hip-hop and then so you you are an old hip-hop oh yeah you go yeah, yeah. You go way deep on that.

Then we had one with Cedric the Entertainer. Oh, I had Sean Porter, Showtime Sean Porter on with me on that one. And then Sean's dad, Kenny Porter, was there. And I think Reuben Paul dropped in. It's just loose, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's hanging. It's really kind of like if you were to wonder what happened to my background

when we're sitting around talking, that's basically we're recording it now. All right. And where is it again? iHeart? iHeart Radio. All right. Culturally canceled with Russell Peters. Any live performance dates at this point right now?

Yeah. I don't want to brag, guys, but I got a bunch of dates. They're on my website, RussellPeters.com. All right. I don't know when this is going to air. In a couple weeks. April's going to get canceled. I know that. Because. You going to air. In a couple weeks. April is going to get canceled. I know that.

You want to wait until after April? No, April, the dates are getting canceled. I've got to do something in Canada. But after that, revisit. Well, again, thank you for being here. I told you what we do over here. At the end, by the way, I forgot to tell you, you're a first-time guest. After we talk about what we're going to talk about, I'm going to ask you what advice you would give your 16-year-old self, all right? So let's start. Tell

me. Yours is a life story. Mine's a life story. I got a lot of years on me. What do you want to start with? Where do you want to start? Well, you're born in Toronto. Born in Toronto in 1970. And are you an only child? No, I have an an older brother he's six years older than me so from the age and my parents we were latchkey kids so from you know from the time i i was born my mom and dad both worked and they both they weren't professionals you know what i mean i heard somebody the other day use latchkey and they were like yeah my mom would pick me up. I'm like, whoa, what? Ain't no pick up. You get your fucking self home with your own key, and you go in the house, and you're responsible for your motherfucking self. I was a latchkey kid.

Nobody was picking up. Matter of fact, they rode right the fuck by while we were walking. Yeah, yeah. My brother and I would take the bus. I was four. He was 10. Damn. We would get on the bus together.

Public transit. Can you imagine if somebody put their four-year-old on a public bus in Toronto right now? Oh, my god. You'd lose your kids today. You would. You would lose your kids. Yeah. So it's a weird world we're living in now.

And I don't remember anything happening to kids back then. I don't remember that many kids getting – No close calls with you or your brother? No. Nobody wanted a brown kid. We're low on the totem pole. Yeah, you'd be stuck with them. How am I going to hide this one?

You'll be stuck with him. Is that your kid? That's my pet monkey. It just throws me a banana. So yeah, for age of four, my brother and I would take me to school. We were in the same school back then. And then we would stop on the way home and get a jumbo burger it was called jumbo burgers would stop there and then we'd have to walk because it was just far enough from the house where a bus waiting for the bus wouldn't make sense right

and uh but still far enough we're like fuck i gotta do this walk now that's a lot on a 10 year old too it's a lot of responsibility my brother's always been very responsible so that was good that worked out well because if it was me and him, we would have been fucked. And did you grow closer because of it? Yeah, he's my manager now. So you're still good together. We're still good, yeah. No shit.

Matter of fact, we FaceTimed each other today, me, him, and my mom staying in my house right now. That's nice. It was nice. The three of us on FaceTime. It was good. So you grow up like that. Now, what sort of student are you? Terrible.

I'm a terrible student. So we moved from Toronto in 1974 or 5, 74, 75. We moved from Toronto to Brampton, which is the 20 minutes outside of the city. And it's a working class blue collar town. What did your parents do? My dad worked in a chicken factory when we moved to Brampton. Otherwise, he worked in a slaughterhouse in Toronto. So he was killing something. He worked in a chicken factory when we moved to Brampton. Otherwise, he worked in a slaughterhouse in Toronto. So he was killing something.

He worked in a beef slaughterhouse, and he was a meat inspector. So then we moved to Brampton where my dad worked at the chicken plant. We did the same shit with chickens. And my mom ended up working at a Kmart. Y'all had Kmart in Canada? Yeah. I didn't know they were international the only thing that's not international is fucking IHOP

ironically I mean fucking false ass advertising that's the fucking truth oh shit and what's it like growing up in a town like that were you guys middle class, lower middle class low income? working class like there was no extras you had what you needed that

was you didn't have no extras well said yeah you know what i mean it was like i had shoes i might have been falling apart but you had fucking shoes and if they did fall apart then you would get new shoes you know uh and so this neighborhood we grew up we moved to was a little townhouse complex and very racist, very, very racist. Very white racist? Well, in Canada in the 70s, there was a lot of racism towards Indian people. Black people were getting it but not anywhere near what we were getting. Really? Like we were below everything because we were easy targets.

We're small. They have funny accents i didn't have one obviously but and i couldn't figure out what the fuck was happening they would call us packies okay um and this is like this is the first this is what you're seeing at four five six years old yeah and i don't understand what's happening right i'm four and a half five years old i'm like is your brother fighting or anything well my brother my brother's kind of figure it out he's like he's 11 now he's like i don't know what the fuck's going on either so um we moved to this townhouse complex and literally i am you know i'm a five-year-old kid i go to the park i don't know i take a piss in the park you know what i mean i i peed on i

still do that yeah and they were like fucking fine with you you fucking packy and grown people talking to me like this oh these are adults these are adults doing this these aren't kids these are adults a little five-year-old they don't give a i was a cute fucking kid too to be honest you are i but and i but i didn't know i was cute because so many people shit on you for so long you don't know anything ain't good about yourself at that point so i i dealt with a lot of that and as you got older it got worse like the you know because it because you you kind of got beaten down at a young age your brain goes oh you have no you have no recourse in this you're just gonna have to take this you know i mean so can i answer your question because obviously i've

never had uh consistent racism uh you know because used against me because i'm white and my privilege. But do you get to a point, and I don't want to say that you get used to it, but you said you accepted it. You actually were like you weren't going to fight back or you just knew that no matter what you did, it didn't matter. No, if you fought back, you were going to get beat up worse. Because you were getting beat up for no reason. Like you would go to the park. Eventually, after having a good time with the other kids, somebody would either spit on you or punch you in the head.

Fuck. Kick you or whatever. How old were you the first time you had any kind of physical education? Right when we moved into the townhouse complex, I'm riding my bicycle in the neighborhood. And I get down the street to the stop sign. There's an older white man watering his lawn. I'm a five-year-old kid. I stop at the stop sign.

I don't know why. Why? Because when you're a kid on a bike, you want to pretend you're driving a car. So you see a stop sign. You stop. And this white man's watering his lawn. I go, hi. And he sprays me with his hose.

Get the fuck out of here, Packy. Damn. Yeah. Grown man. Cut to, that was 1975. Cut to 1984, 85. So wait, sorry sorry your first sort of it was not my first he was but he was definitely like but that's an adult that's not a kid your age yeah that was that was the one where i was like oh that motherfucker uh-huh okay i see who you are anyway cut to like 10 years later

um i don't live in that townhouse i'm skinning all in your yard later motherfucker oh yeah it's even better so i 10 years later my friends lived in the in the buildings behind. There was like across the street was like these apartment buildings. So my my friends still live there. So and we had moved. So but you start to walk through my old townhouse to get to my where I had moved to. So I'm walking home one night from my friend's place, me and him. He's walking back with me.

And that guy's house was on the corner. And I was walking was walking back i go look at that motherfucker sitting in his living room and he had a big window i picked up a brick i threw that shit right through the fucking window motherfucker and that's funny because i saw his wife maybe um maybe lawn looks good though yeah yeah damn you threw a brick man fuck that guy they didn't call the police or anything like that i don't know what they did we were gone done whatever they wanted to do but i don't know i was gone you saw his wife i saw his wife um in the mall and that i grew up like in the hometown that i grew up in now maybe i saw him maybe like i want to say like 14 years ago and i was like I was with my mom and I go, oh, look at this fucking bitch is still here.

And my mom goes, Russell, stop that. I go, no, you know who her fucking dirty husband was. I love that you hold that grudge. Oh, yeah. Because he was a grown ass man. Fuck yeah. Yeah. God damn.

So when at what age do you start to develop the comedy muscle that is probably protecting you from getting your ass beat? At that age is when I started doing it because I was like – I think I've always been innately a happy person. It's like it's something you're born with. Either you are or you're not. And people can try to fuck with it and they can. And they do. And they do. But you can't take it away.

You can stifle it a little bit, but that's about it. But I used to use comedy to get out of situations. And then from the age of four, all the kids I associated with were the black kids because they were the ones not doing anything to me. They were the ones who were literally equals. We were just – it wasn't even like, oh, he's black. Let me talk to him. It just like didn't occur to me. It was like, hey, these guys don't bully me.

I'm going to go hang out with them. And then we would end up doing dumb shit together. Well, I'm guessing, I mean, skin color wasn't a thing for you. You knew it was the way you were being treated. But for you, you didn't give a shit who anyone looked like. Right. It didn't occur to me. Right.

But it's funny because I remember I didn't know what a fucking packy was when I would hear it. They were, fucking packy's coming. And I would run with them. Like I'd run into the park and be like, fucking packy. And they'd all run and I'd run too. And they'd think I'm chasing them. And I'm like, I don't want the fucking packy to get me either. I thought it was like a ghost.

And I came home and go, mom, what's a fucking, what's a packy? And my mom goes, we're not from Pakistan. We're from India. Tell them that. I go, I'm what's a fucking – what's a Paki? My mom goes, we're not from Pakistan. We're from India. Tell them that. I go, I'm not – They don't give a fuck. I'm like, I'm not going to correct them. That's not going to be the win.

Listen, let me correct your racism so you can do it properly. You're going to insult me. Do it properly. Be accurate. Please be accurate with your racism. And that's probably why i do this the comedy that i do because i i'm when i do talk about specific races or cultures or nationalities i'm very specific with it and i think that comes from people doing broad stroke racism on me i was like

listen i want this to be right yeah well i'm watching you out here with lana with knowing everything she's talking about these these countries, dialects, languages. Yeah. Okay, so do you remember having conversations other than that with your mom and dad about this? Maybe their experiences of racism. Well, my dad – Racism isn't new. No.

See, my mom's very fair-skinned. She could pass. She's not much darker than you. She is Indian. Yeah, she's from India, born and raised. Not much darker than you. Not much darker. She just looks like me but fair-skinned from India, born and raised. Not much darker than me. Not much darker. She just looks like me, but fair skin.

I'll show you a picture just so you get an idea. I just posted it on my Instagram, too, as a matter of fact. Let's go to that picture. Let's go to the tape, kids. Okay, so that's mom. That's her with a tan. Oh, yeah, okay. Right?

It just looks like me if you really look at it. Watch. I had to zoom in. It's on Instagram, so you got to use two fingers. Use two fingers on my mom. Two fingers on you, bro. There you go. I got two fingers on your mom, bro. And then my dad was a little bit darker.

Yeah, for sure. So anyway, yeah, my dad dealt with that shit too. So when he moved to Canada, my dad was an English major, so he always wanted to be a writer. What took them to Canada? An airplane. major so he always wanted to be a writer is what what took them to canada an airplane um they uh they wanted to get out of india because the type of indian we are we're anglo-indians we're mixed like and we're mixed with british and and anglo-indians um mary's educate us

anglo-indians used to marry anglo-indians because they were the same mix so there's some very famous anglo-indians and the mix is british indian british and indian the father had to have been british the mother had to be an indian okay and if the mother was uh british and the father was indian that's a eurasian oh okay i didn't know that yeah but eurasians didn't have much um of the cultural shit happened the ang Anglo-Indians were born and raised in India, but their first language is English and all of their cultural things are British. So growing up, when I'd go to India, everybody spoke English

because all my family spoke English. And at four o'clock, it was tea time. And they would want snacks like scones and shit like that. You know what I mean? So that's what I knew. And we did Indian food, obviously, because that's the food around.

And then they learn whatever language they need to learn for where they live. So my mom grew up in Calcutta. She learned how to speak Bengali because that's where she was born and raised. But English was still her first language. My dad was born and raised – well, not raised. He was born in Bombay. And so he learned how to speak the language there, which is Marathi. And he spoke that. He knew how to speak it. And they both knew how to speak the language there, which is Marathi. And he spoke that. He knew how to speak it.

And they both knew how to speak Hindi, which is the national language. But English was their first language. And even when they would speak the other languages, they still weren't that good at it. But they could communicate. Yeah, they could communicate. They could understand it. Do you speak more than one language? No.

I fake it through every language. But I can make you think I can speak your fucking language. Like I know enough of each language where I make you go i don't think we should speak he's gonna figure it out he's gonna figure this out that's all i want to do is make you uncomfortable yeah that's great you're comfortable with your language well i know what part of the words were that's all you need to do throw people what about extended family do you have grandparents or anyone that's over here no no my my dad shit if my dad was alive he'd be 96 so so no yeah they how old was he when he had you then he was 45 when he had 45 okay a little older yeah he was 45 so me and my brother took after him because i had my first kid at 40 yeah my second one at 49 49 is the second one yeah i do what i

gotta do how do your knees feel How's your back and your knees? That's what always hurts my back. Boy, he's 48. I was 48 and a half. Going to be 49. No, I do jiu-jitsu, so my back is fine. Knees are fine. My feet hurt.

It's a little weird, but it's my own issue. So take me through just now high school. What is high school like for you? Okay, so that's 1975. We go now high school. What is high school like for you? Okay. So that's 1975. We go through grade school. I'm in Catholic school for nine years. Oh, you are? Okay.

Senior kindergarten to eighth grade. Damn. They have a senior kindergarten in Canada. They have junior kindergarten, senior kindergarten. Two kindergarten years? Yeah. So it's basically – what's the first one you do here before kindergarten? Pre-K they call it.

Pre-K or – Yeah, pre-K. So pre-K and so, you know, same shit, different name. And then you guys say eighth grade and we say grade eight. It's the same shit. It's the same way Lana's family, the West Indian Indian people, will say curry chicken and Indians will say chicken curry. Oh, okay.

That's how we know the distinction. By the way they say, like, oh, they're one of those. Okay. Oh, you were that. I got you. Okay. That's how we know the distinction. By the way they say, like, oh, they're one of those. Okay. Oh, you were that. I got you. Okay. Chicken curry. Hide your wall.

Yeah. They want curry chicken? Motherfucker, I know what you're doing. And their curry is a different color. So we're like, that's how Indian people are going to go. Wrong color. Don't know what you've done here, but it tastes good. Anyway, side note.

Okay, so I get through nine years of Catholic school. A lot of – I deal with a lot of things during that time. Like what? Just a lot of racism and just getting – Even from the priest and shit like that? Did you ever get any of that? No, but even at a young age, I knew I was an atheist because I would go to church and I was like, this doesn't make sense. Thank you.

You weren't allowed to ask questions. And that made me even more. I'm like, well, if I can't ask questions and how the fuck do you go? If you can't give me an answer, you're supposed to believe. No, motherfucker. I do not. Yeah. I need if God's everywhere.

Why do I got to be here? Yeah. Why does God need my fucking money? Yeah. And why isn't God stopping you from fucking that kid over there? And that one. And that one. And that one.

And I kind of felt bad because they never fucked me. I was like, I was a very cute fucking kid. I don't know what their problem was. You said it. They didn't want the brown one, yeah. They wanted the brown stain, just not the brown kid. This is one of my favorite memes if you want to share that again good things come in small packages oh my god

oh i assume you've seen um oh now i can't even think of the documentary with the whole – the Baltimore documentary. I'm embarrassed. I can't think of it. The nuns with the whole priest. They exposed the Catholic Church to not just having sex with boys but children. There's so many girls. What the fuck is it called? The fuck a boy documentary?

I don't know. It's not just boys. That's the thing. Oh, wow. They were fucking girls? They were fucking children. I boys. That's the thing. Oh, wow. They were fucking girls? They were fucking children. I know. That's weird.

Yes. Children. I don't know why. It didn't matter what. I don't understand that fucking obsession. As a father, you go, what the fuck is wrong with you? You have kids? Yeah, I'm a six-year-old daughter.

You get it. Yeah, totally. You look at them and you go, I got it before I had a kid, though. Yeah, me too. I've always been into mature porn. Women. I got it before I had a kid, though. Yeah, me too. I've always been into mature porn, women.

It just came to me. The Keepers. The Keepers. Okay. It just came to me. Where is it? Netflix. Okay.

And it's great, and you absolutely need to watch it. It is eye-opening, and I know some people in it. My mother's connected some people in it. A friend of mine's mom went to that school and knew this teacher so they murdered this nun because she was gonna out them and they fucking wiped her ass out and then they start talking to all these people that have real evidence like the grave digger that had the priest come to him and say bury my porn here while he dug it up for him and it's just stacks and pictures of kitties. Yeah.

That's so much proof. And they all walked scot-free. And they show you how they just moved them. Not across the country. Like from this parish to this one, five blocks down the street. Yeah. This happened to me last year. It was the daddy-daughter dance at my daughter's school.

And so the fathers, we take a bunch of the fathers, like 12 of us, will take our daughters to dinner on a date. And the daughters will sit at one table. The fathers will sit at another table. So I get there maybe about 15 minutes late, which is my MO. And there's one seat left at the table for me right here. And at the head of the table is the priest from the school. Oh, no. And I sit down and I go, this is going to be fun.

And so we're having dinner. And the guy sitting across from me is like a real kiss-ass guy. So he starts saying, you know, Father, I got away from the church. But when I started coming back around, I realized how much I'm like like and i'm like this motherfucker right here i'm just thinking i'm drinking too so i'm like i'm looking around i'm like and i'm helping the guy but something this motherfucker right here and then and then he's like you know and it was you know that i remember when i was in school the nuns were so mean and they used to hit us and and uh they were really mean and then the and then the priest goes yeah the catholic church the church has changed the church has changed a lot ago yeah now they just fuck kids and and the priest goes

could you imagine being one of the good catholic priests everywhere you go you gotta hear him you ain't ever not gonna hear him and it. And that priest recognized me, obviously, but because about six months earlier, I think it was six months earlier, maybe six months to a year before that, my ex-wife wanted my daughter to get baptized because she wasn't baptized. And I didn't want to go. And she was like, you have to go. They won't do it if your father's not there. I go, what if the father's fucking dead? What do you do then? Dig one up?

Like, no, I don't want to go. She's like, you have to go. I'm like, fine. So I showed up in a Wu-Tang Clan sweatshirt and a baseball hat. Yeah. And I'm standing there like this when the priest is like, and now you are. And then Jesus said, no, he didn't. And he's like, and everyone's looking at me.

And then they go, please make a cross, sign the cross on your daughter's head. So everyone, my ex-wife has to do it, her parents. And I go, meh. I just want this one. Meh. And the priest goes like this. OK. You know, if you want to kick her out of the school, I have no problem with it.

Bro. So yeah, that's no problem with it. Bro. So, yeah. You know, that's where I was at. Anyway. So, eighth grade. Now you're going to high school. Is this a public school? Yeah.

So, eighth grade. Yeah. I was supposed to go to Catholic school. I didn't want to because I didn't want to wear a uniform because I'd already started breakdancing and I wanted to be cool. So, cut to 1984 now. Yeah. I'm already breakdancing for about a year and a half already.

What do you mean? Like on a team or competing in the streets? I was just, you know, I was into hip hop. I was already, I'm on a B-boy. I year and a half already. What do you mean? Like on a team or competing in the streets and shit? I was into hip-hop. I'm on a B-boy. I would walk to school with my boom box. You would? You'd carry the box? Every fucking day I would do it.

And I was a little kid. I was listening to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then my brother would end up with these mixtapes, and I'd play those too. But anyway, I'm playing all this shit, walking to school, blasting it. And then I'd walk by the French teacher and I'd play that part. Je m'appelle Melle Melle. Don't want a lot of cheap mademoiselles.

And I was like – so you cut to 1984, summer – September 1984, you start. I start ninth grade. I'll show you what I look like. I was born – my birthday is in september so i was already in school but this is a picture for me on my birthday in 1984 i'm turning 14 that's what i look like at 14 1984 kids 1984 i bagged my that man hey dude you look like fucking out of you look like uh breaking you look like you're out of breaking well that's her problem yeah i ended up i saw breaking before i saw beat street and when i saw beat street ago yo that's the fucking cool look but i didn't know where to get that yeah yeah so i was like mixing it with karate kid and fucking break in and and

i begged my dad for that thriller jacket it was 99 and it was Karate Kid and fucking break in. And I begged my dad for that Thriller jacket. It was $99 and it was leather. And it was fucking $99 in 1984. It was a lot of fucking money. I wore that jacket once or twice. Got made fun of and never wore it again. And to this day, to this day, to this day, 37 years later, I still feel bad that i wasted my dad's money on that fucking jacket and that's that's fucking guilt right there that is guilt because he didn't have a hundred dollars

it's a lot of fucking money and he bought it for me and i didn't think he would buy it for me i should have got the beaded jacket now the beaded jacket was a little too out there but the thriller jacket way out there i had my so funny you say that man because i was not a fan of michael jackson the clothes he wore which i just wasn't i'm i don't know maybe i was younger than me i figured it you know but i just knew that it was weird okay chimpanzees and kids and shit and i'm thinking about the catholic church i'm like well how's this guy any different so my grandmother i'll never forget and again she didn't have me, but she bought me this pair of black parachute pants.

Oh, yeah. And I mean, zippers all over. Oh, yeah. I had those. That's what I'm wearing in that picture. Actually, I'm wearing black baggy pants with a zip down the side with white mesh. So you can zip it up or you can zip it down. But I would always have it down because I want you to see my white mesh.

I hung those motherfuckers up in the closet and never, ever wore them. And I still, to this day, I feel bad about that. It was like that Christmas present. She thought it was cool. She went out and got me these things. And I was like, yeah, fuck this shit. I got my chucks and my jeans. I'm good.

I had my karate slippers on because they were good for sliding around. The Bruce Lee ones, the little black ones. Yeah, with the plastic sole. Yeah. Oh, yeah, because they were good for sliding around. The Bruce Lee ones, the little black ones. Yeah, with the plastic sole. Yeah. Oh, yeah, because they were like five bucks. What was your go-to move? What was the one where people – you would do it and people were like, oh, this guy knows what he's doing. I used to do this one shuffle, but I had to stop because my knee started to swell up.

Because I was trying to do this really fast shuffle on the ground, and I ended up doing this thing where I kept turning like this and smashing my knee but it looked really cool but i'd go in a circle and then one day my knee just was like this and i was like oh i don't think i could do that anymore and then i remember one time doing a dive into a worm yeah i was gonna do a dive so i went and did the dive but instead of sliding down like this i got stuck and i scorpioned oh legs and legs hollow. And I thought I was going to fucking never walk again. So I started to become a little bit more cautious with my b-boy moves. And eventually I learned how to windmill. But it was too late then. That's some real shit, the windmill, rolling on your shoulders like that.

Oh, yeah, and I was doing seatbelts and these. And the seatbelts and these were easier to do than the actual keep doing it this way. Tell me the truth. When you're walking through the house or whatever and you're just yourself you ever bust out a pop and lock you still oh yeah it's funny when uh i have videos there's videos out there of me like maybe even a few months ago um some kid was at my house and he said he's a he's a b-boy and i go all right so he did some shit and then i stood up and i did my little i top rocked and i top rock still looks good so it looks like i'm about to do something but i wasn't't going to do it. You're like, that's all, man.

I was like, oh, she's going to dive into a windmill. I go, nah, I don't want to do it right now because I don't want to fucking break my hip, my head, or my knee. Oh, shit. Now, are you playing sports or anything like that in high school? You see, I was a very small kid. Yeah, you are small. How tall are you now? 5'11".

Yeah, you're... I'm about 215. You don't... That's what I was going to say. I wondered if you were always... Because you got some size to you, and I would imagine people didn't want to fuck with you then,

but you were a little... I was 4'11", and I weighed 75 pounds. In ninth grade? Yeah, and I dressed like that. So understand what I'm working with. Yeah. And I'm already dealing

with being Indian in 1984, and nobody wanted to talk. You're like, how can I make this worse? I was trying to figure out how to get a jerry curl. I wanted a jerry curl so bad. That's going to be the photo shop for this episode. Man, all the black dudes had jerry curls. They're really good ones.

And they don't be like this. They'll check it out and they go like this. They go like this. Just to see their curls move. That's how they knew they got a good one. They're like. Yeah. It makes me laugh what Deion Sanders always said.

Look wet. But it was dry. He said it all the time. Yeah. It was. So. Well, that was the old gangster look and everything. With NWA with the Jerry curls.

That was way too late. That was way too late. This is 84. This is pre NWA. How pre though? 80. It was about five four years yeah four or five years before them 89 yeah yeah so um yeah so i go to this you try to actually

get one no my mom wouldn't let me grow my hair i did i'll tell you a funny story about 11th grade um anyway so ninth grade and i'm getting picked on even worse now in this school. A lot of bullying. A lot of bullying. And again, race-related? Race-related, yeah, yeah. And because I look like that. And I kind of had a slick tongue on me, too. If you said something, I was like, I'll say something back.

Did you have a small crew at all that also looked like that, that you could at least come back? No, all my friends went to the other schools. Okay, they were still at the Catholic school or other no they just wherever they went wherever else but i didn't really like there was jocks in this school there was guys that played basketball there was guys that played football and i so to this day i still fucking can't stand team sports okay like what's your team i go to my team is go fuck yourself that's my team you ever heard of them they go fuck yourselves are really good teams i want to say this real quick because this is just a shout What's your team? My team is GoFuckYourself. That's my team. You ever heard of them? GoFuckYourself is really good.

Speaking of teams, I want to say this real quick because this is just a shout-out to you, and it's on my mind. I'm sorry. This is a complete sidetrack. But every time someone talks to me about you and I talk to them, I talk about how you sold out the Raptors arena. Seven times. Seven times. And guess who can't do that? The Raptors.

Back then, they could not fucking do that either. Now they they can but not back then no no that's fucking beyond incredible it's pretty cool so good for you for fucking doing something a sports team couldn't look at that there you go and then they won the world championship they did they finally got yeah finally i mean i'll i'll be happy about that i'm happy about that let's take a quick break and tell you about our first sponsor, Liquid IV. When we push our body hard or we're just feeling run down, it's extremely important to take care of ourselves with the proper vitamins and nutrients. That's why Liquid IV created hydration multiplier plus immune support to maintain and strengthen your immune system. I've told you guys throughout the entire time I had COVID and and even still, I'm liquid IVing it all day long.

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Girls don't like me. But then when the girls did like you, they had to, like, because it was only white girls, they wouldn't let you, they wouldn't let anybody know. So I used to walk home with this one girl, and we would hold hands, and we would make out and stuff. And then one day somebody saw her with me and was like, the fuck are you doing with a fucking package? She left it on my hand. I was like, I'm not with him. I don't even know him.

And I was like, what the fuck and then i that really hurt me and then i like this other girl and i wrote her like these really cute notes you know i think her name was carla hill and i was like i would kill for carla hill and you know stuff like that and she was really cute and she was a she was a she was an elf in the mall and the santa display you know what i mean i was like she was really cute and then uh and then she showed them to like these fucking dickhead guys they were making fun of me that they were a grade older than me and i was like, she was really cute. And then she showed them to like these fucking dickhead guys. They were making fun of me. They were a grade older than me. And I was like, oh, fuck you, bitch. All right.

So I see. So now I'm like getting all this like, oh, I see what's going on here. And then I left school crying a lot in ninth and tenth grade. So I never got good grades. So in ninth grade, you're supposed to get eight credits. I got two. Two. And then I had to go to eight credits. I got two. Two. And then I had to go to summer school.

I took two classes. I picked up one. You know what I mean? So I got three. I ended up with three. And then you're supposed to get another eight in tenth grade, and then I got three. I went to summer school, picked up another one, got four. So I had seven credits at the end of tenth grade when you're supposed to have 16.

And then the school was like, you need to get out of our school. Really? They kicked you out? They sent me to the trade school down the street because they were like, you're never going to graduate here. Your marks are atrocious. I got 13% in typing. Dude, and none of them are talking to you about what's going on with you. There's no counselor that reached out.

Nobody fucking cares. You got to understand, when people talk about America in the 40s and 50s and dealing with racism, I get it. Because there's nobody you can talk to because the people you're going to talk to don't actually give a fuck. Because no matter – even if they're not racist, they still don't have any empathy for you. Right. They're like, meh. So what are your parents telling you when you go home? Because I'm curious about the parenting back then versus the shit.

Because I feel like we coddle our kids a lot about, hey, this and that. So what do your parents tell you? Are they tough it up, defend yourself? Yeah, tough it up, defend yourself. My dad was a little guy, and he had a bad temper. And he used to box in India. So he was like, he would fucking. Your dad's boxing, you're beatboxing.

Yeah, basically, yeah. And he would tell me, like, just fucking hit him. And I'm like, I don't know how to hit him. My dad was like, you need to learn how to fight. So right before when I changed schools, the school I was going to was like a tough school. Like a lot of tough kids, a lot of badass kids went there. And my dad was like, if you're going to that school, you might want to learn how to fight. So this kid that I hung around with.

He told you that. Oh, yeah. OK. This kid that I used to hang around with was a Canadian champ boxer. Willie. He was like, go to the gym with Willie. I was like, all right. And I ended up starting boxing, and I fucking loved it.

And I was actually pretty decent at it. Turns out, I was like, I didn't know. I didn't know I had to. He goes, yeah, of course you fucking do it. My dad's just like, of course. I'm good at it. If I'm good at it and you're my kid, you're going to be good at it. And because my brother was six years older.

So you got to understand, when I started, I'm like 15 and a half, 16. My brother's 21 or 22. And my brother was a big guy. He used to read all his bodybuilding 15 and a half, 16. My brother's 21 or 22. And my brother was a big guy. He used to read all his bodybuilding books and worked out and stuff. But it was like the 80s workout where you weren't jacked. You were just swollen. That creatine puff.

Yeah, like just kind of chubby but with everything sitting in the right place. You know what I mean? You didn't have a jawline. You were still like – but big guy. And you're now 16. So how much have you grown are you still like no i'd grown now so now i'm 147 pounds holy shit you put on fucking doubled your weight almost yeah yeah so i i got i had a growth spurt in like on end of ninth grade beginning of 10th grade i had a growth spurt and uh but it didn't make a difference i was still skinny you know what i mean so um i start boxing i get good at it i go to the tough school no not one fucking problem in the tough school not one because the tough kids the little gangsters in that school they're not punks

they're not bullies the bullies were at the other school they were being dicks and bullying because they could and what are you gonna do the kids that the kids at your school would go kick the shit out of those kids they would never push them yeah they would never come that that school would never come to this school and start a problem because they would get their ass well right but my school was all the tough kids and it was mostly jamaican kids and and uh and like crazy ass white trash kids you know what i mean and and what sort of trades what are they teaching i took chef training for two years. You did? Yeah. I wish I knew that. I always, in my mind, when they talked about vo-tech, it was always – they never said anything about horticulture or –

Oh, we had a horticulture class? Cars and mechanics. Yeah. They had all that there too. They had autobody. They had mechanics. They had machine shops. That was in a different section of the school.

Right next to the chef training class was the bake shop class. They had baking? God, I did it all wrong. And then across the hall from us was the cosmetology class where you learn about hair and makeup and all that stuff. The fast girls. Yeah. And then next door to them was the sewing class. And I used to hang out in the sewing class all the time because the teacher, Miss Kelly, rest in peace, she passed away like a few months ago.

But she used to – she was cool as shit. She would let me hang out in there because she was like a hippie. And she had – she had married a black guy in like the 60s. So she was like hip as shit. And she was like – and she would swear. I don't give a fuck. You want to hang out here? Go ahead and hang out here.

She goes, you're not going to be a chef anyway. She's like, I know there's something better for you, Russell. She was one of those people who believed in me at a very young age. I was going to ask you if you had someone. She was that one. She was the one. She would let me hang out. And there was all the hot chicks.

Not hot chicks, but the cool girls were in that class. And I was like, there was some cute ones in there. I was like, all right. I got to hang around these chicks. And this is a different school. This is a different way of approaching things. So these girls are being nice to me now. And you're not the packy kid no more.

You're just another guy in the school. You're like, wow, this is great. So I go there. I take chef training. Me and my chef training teacher to this day are still friends. Really? He still emails me, calls me, texts me. Mr. Kohler, good guy.

He ended up fucking one of the students and marrying her later on. No. Sorry, Freddie. He did. He was fucking one of the students. He ended up marrying her. And then she, you know, jacked him and took him for his shit. But whatever.

I mean, you know. Jacked him and took him for his shit. Oh, my. Jack took him for his shit. Oh, my. And in that school, it was funny because the kids were, like, so – you couldn't play with those kids. Like, I had never seen that in the other school because I – What do you mean by that? Like, you couldn't fuck around with them or –

Yeah, no, like, I could. But, like, when the teachers, like, in the other school would be like – they'd be like, you know, they'd be like, Ryan, go to the office. I'm like, sorry, sir. I'm going to the office. In this school, you'd be like, go to the office. I'm like, sorry, sir. I'm going to the office. And this school would be like, go to the office. Go fuck yourself. That's what it was like in my school. And the teacher would be like, breaking up a fight.

And then the girls would turn on the teacher. Don't fucking touch me. And then start slugging on the teacher. And I'm like, yo, what the fuck? So I got to see this. I was like, oh, this is a different. That changed my whole thing. I was like, oh, I don't have to get bullied.

These aren't fucking bullies. This is what real tough people do. And so it changed me altogether there. I see. OK. I remember this one fight. This guy, Eddie, got into a fight with this Italian guy named Massimo. And Eddie had like a white – everybody used to carry a rag in their pocket back then.

He had a towel in his pocket. So they start fighting. And then Eddie takes a towel out of his pocket, throws it up in the air, and goes, and then Massimo looks, and goes, he goes, That's old. That's our old snowball fight trick.

You throw one up, somebody looks at you, and you just, boom, break the fucking mouth. And I remember laughing so hard that fucking day, too. That's a great one, yeah. Yeah, so I never got beat up ever again after that, when I changed schools. Isn't that interesting? Yeah, it is. I started boxing day too that's a great one yeah yeah so i never got beat up ever again after that when i changed schools isn't that interesting yeah it is i started boxing maybe that's why yeah but have you ever been in a fight oh yeah yeah a lot of fights after that yeah once i learned how to fight i was like oh i'm gonna do this yeah so i got into i used to i wouldn't instigate them but if something popped off i'd be like let's go i mean what's it like look i've been in a shitload of fights and i know

what it's like for a person to want to take me off the face of this earth who's a stranger's never met me doesn't know a damn thing about me but what is that like for to face because of just the color of your skin i i'm sure i did something or whatever to them it wasn't because i'm white so what is that like to have to fucking literally fight for your life well you're not fighting for your life i already know how to fight so they would talk slick and i'd knock them out it was literally one punch always one oh you would cry it was like pop that's it all right and i wasn't like a stomp you and beat them like yeah he's already asleep what am i gonna do with that so it was always it was always very quick so it never had a problem with that.

It was never like got into a knockdown drag out. Nobody knew how to fight. You realize that once you learn how to fight is that you go, nobody knows how to fucking fight. That's right. Except today you never know. You might get one of these MMA motherfuckers will snap your neck off. I do jiu-jitsu now.

So now I'm always like – and jiu-jitsu guys, there's like this brotherhood in jiu-jitsu. When you see somebody who does jiu-jitsu, it could be the guy that hates your guts. You're like, oh, okay, cool. What's up, bro? there's like this brotherhood in jiu-jitsu. When you see somebody who does jiu-jitsu, it could be the guy that hates your guts. You're like, oh, okay, cool. What's up, bro? It's like this whole thing that changes. It's quite a lovely thing.

It sounds like it. But anyway, so I ended up becoming president of that high school in 12th grade. What do you mean? I ran for class president. I won president. You did? Yeah. How hard was that?

I was the only one who could make a fucking sentence. Everybody was dumb as shit in that school. If everybody hated you. Not in the second school. Oh, the second school. The second school I was popular. Okay. I became popular because I was DJing and stuff then too already.

Where were you DJing? I started DJing in 85. Damn, that is early. You were records, huh? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. My first two doubles that I intentionally bought were the show, Dougie Fresh and Slick Rick. Yeah.

So I bought two of those because I intentionally bought it so I could scratch. Get fresh, crew. And then my first two turntables were these Technics SLB 200s. They were belt drives. And the pitch was a wheel. There was no like up and down pitch. It was a wheel. So if you wanted to pitch up the record, you had to push with your finger.

And then they would do it at this ungodly speed. So you had to learn how to do it with your finger. So you could just mix that way. But then when you did do that, you'd stretch the belt, belt would fall off the turntable, turntable would die.

And then you'd have, and then I'd go to pick up my mom from work with my dad to seemingly like I wanted to go for the drive, but I would go to the, where they sold turntables, lift off the platter, steal the fucking belt and put the platter back down. I love that shit.

So that made you a cool kid, pretty much popular. Yeah, because now I knew music, and I had the new music, and I knew how to get music, and I became that guy. So I started having an identity now. I was the hip-hop kid. I DJed. I used to breakdance. I liked tagging a little bit. You know what I mean?

And these tough kids in that school were all about it. They had no problem with me because they were like, man, we're not fucking with us. He's cool. He always says hi. He gives us a win or whatever. But did you run with any crews or were you sort of your own guy? I was kind of my own guy. I had like my best friend Marlon that I grew up with, Stacco, the big black wacko.

That's why I was actually FaceTiming with him when i pulled in as a matter of fact we've been best friends for 43 years i love that i'm still really tight with guys from like sixth grade seventh grade 43 years of best friends there so uh he's he's a black dude jamaican as well and then everybody i knew was black after that it was just like it was just so much easier i never had any problems with them you know what i mean so i was like oh this is way better this is so it's so so so no problems here this is the best way to be so right um you graduated in 88 i was class president um i remember there was somebody running for office in my town and their name was like something like it it was like Ken Russell or something. And I stole his signs and blacked out the Ken part and put the Russell ones all over the place.

I put Russell all over the school. Vote for Russell. And then I don't know which – I heard some political candidates say this on the news. So when we had to go from class to class to pitch ourselves to the students, I was like, vote for me. If I win, you win. That's it. Thank you. And then the other ones were like – they couldn't form a sentence.

And if I win, I'm going to. And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to do shit. And then I came up with these designs for the new school t-shirts and I had it done graffiti style. Because I was a hip-hop-minded kind of kid. So it looked pretty cool. Anyway, that's high school and then i graduate and then uh i don't go to college no no you from so from the high school i graduated from you weren't eligible to go to college nah because uh back then your tech grades don't count no No. So in Canada, they had a system. Back then, there was 3.1, 4.1, and 5.1. 3.1 is basic level education.

4.1 is general. And 5.1 is advanced. And the school I went to offered nothing but basic. And you weren't. 2.1. Yeah, pretty much. No joke. and you weren't to one yeah pretty much and i'm no joke one of the fucking english problems in uh 11th or 12th grade was unscramble the words and use them in a sentence

and one of the words was ferrari and i go miss this is uh i'm gonna own three of these no i said this isn't a word it's a name and i got kicked out for challenging everything all the time. But you are right. Yeah. It's not a word. Yeah. I mean, I was so scared of my parents. I remember I got in some trouble with one of the teachers, and I got sent to the office, and the principal was going to call my parents.

And then I got so fucking freaked out by it. And I was like, you have no idea what it's fucking like in my house. All right, motherfucker. I was getting freaking out. I go, and he was a big, older white man. I go, why don't you do this? Why don't you come to the boxing gym with me we'll spar three rounds if you beat me up you can call my fucking parents and i'm like come on motherfucker let's go i'll fucking fight you to stop you from calling my parents he was like this kid's crazy

he ended up letting me do an in-school suspension because he was going to suspend me for a couple of days so what do you do after high school um i get this job working with my cousin he was a subcontractor for like the gas company and we had to go house to house and put these rain shields on gas meters okay so i literally walked around and just put that plastic cover plastic cover on these rain shields on on gas meters for the whole summer of 88 and then i got a job in a warehouse after that because that's what my life was doing i was like and at this point there's no comedy in your life or anything comedy starts a year later okay but what's the what what's your influence i know you at this

point i'm sure you're watching comedies you have some favorites you're gonna understand 88 you're still not really watching it you're listening to it true so i'm listening to records i had all these carlin records but no SNL or anything like that? I didn't really care about it. You know what I mean? You had to be home to watch that on a Saturday night. And I'm 18 years old. I'm trying to go to the clubs.

I'm going to all these all-ages clubs. I started going to all-ages clubs at 15. Oh, really? Up there that early? Yeah, 15 all-ages clubs. You can go there. There's no alcohol. Oh, no shit.

OK. Club 404. You know, we'd go there. Club 404. It was fun times. Then there was all these like other little all ages clubs and then you know uh the nightclubs in toronto they used to serve alcohol until one back in the 80s and then after one they would open it up to all ages oh okay so you go to like a nightclub there's this after hours club called twilight zone that everybody used to go to and And it was in downtown Toronto.

And they used to just play house music. And this is when house music was underground still. So I would go there all the time. I remember going there in 85. I was 15 and would go after one. And I remember falling asleep in the club because I couldn't stay up. Because it would be house. And I fell asleep sitting there.

And then they put on Wop It by B-Fats. Remember? It was Wop It. It was a song by B-Fats, Wop It. And I remember sleeping and then I hear Wop It and I go – and I got up and started doing the Wop and then I went back to sleep. And also back then I would see Lennox Lewis because I was boxing amateur and I would go to the tournaments.

Now, let me just clear something up because I never actually had any fights. I would go to the gym, fight, spar with guys, get ready for fights, get guys ready for fights. And then my coach would be like, I got you a fight in two weeks. And I wouldn't show up for three weeks because I was like, I don't want to fight. I just wanted to train, learn how to fight. And I didn't mind like getting into a scrap. Like if you and I know each other were sparring, I'm good with that. And you want to beat the shit out of me, that's fine too.

You ever get knocked out like that? I've been knocked down a couple of times. Not out cold, but definitely knocked down. What's it like? Slowly do this. You have that headgear on? Do you have it? You hear you can slowly hear the sound.

Yeah, going away. Fading out. Yeah, going away. Fading out. Yeah, that's what it's like. It's like being a vacuum. And you're just done. Oh, body shots are worse. Fucking worse. Yeah.

I mean I've seen guys get it and they just go. There was this guy Larry in my gym, big Jamaican guy, heavyweight. And I started at 147. I think I might have been 160 by this time and his sparring didn't show up that day so my coach is like russell go spar with larry larry's 220 225 maybe damn he's like six three i'm i think i'm 510 at the time five nine five five nine probably five nine five ten um they go russell spar with larry i go fuck that i make too much fun of larry every day in the gym

to get in the ring with this guy because I make fun of him because he was very Jamaican. Oh, Russell, they'll call him Larry. Oh, boy, and I talk so much fucking shit to him. I'm like, I make fun of him. I make fun of his English or whatever. But that's just – and he would – he had this huge – he had a huge dick and he would always walk around the dressing room with his dick hanging out.

And I'm talking this motherfucker's shit was this. Listen, those dudes love this shit. And I'd be like, I'd finish training. He goes, oh, come in and have a shower. I go, because I'll shower at home. I don't fucking need you to see my peanut with that fucking elephant trunk. It's going to take nine of my dicks. Yeah, yeah.

He'd be like, yeah. So, yeah. His dick could have been his sparring partner. You know what I mean? Like, just da-da-da-da-da-da. Yeah. So I'd make fun of him all the time. Anyway, his sparring didn't show up, so my coach was like, hey, go spar with Larry.

I go, fuck that. Larry goes, no. I go, I'm not getting hit by heavyweight. You crazy? He goes, he's not going to hit you. He's going to work on defense. And I go, so I can hit him. He's not going to hit me.

Right. I go, all right. So I get in, put my headgear on, mouthpiece, everything, get in the ring, ding, ding. I start lighting him up because I'm faster than him. I'm like, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and I start talking shit. Hey, Larry, you're really fucking slow.

Pop, pop, pop. He's, you know, moving. He's just getting out of the way. He's not getting hurt by me and everything, but I'm getting confident because I'm lighting him up. I'm hitting his body. I'm getting his head lightly. You know what I mean? I'm getting confident because I'm lighting him up. I'm hitting his body. I'm getting his head lightly. You know what I mean? I'm getting things on him.

I'm talking so much shit. It gets to him. I throw a jab. He dips. Pop! Right under. It hits me right in the liver. I dropped and I made this noise. My coach is like, get up. I go, fuck you.

Fuck you, bro. My liver's holding me down. I'm not get up. I go, fuck you. Fuck you, bro. My liver's holding me down. Yeah. I'm not getting up. I've heard those thuds. That thud. I always. You just see a bend and go, duh.

You know guys like to fake. And I always go right there on them. Because I was going for the head. And I'm like, pop. You know how fucking sensitive that is? Yeah. It's so. Oh, God.

Yeah. And I give it a light tap just to let you know you're right open. Oh, what the fuck was that? I go, your body. You're going to piss blood tomorrow, but you'll be fine after that. Oh, yeah. Well, we just have good times going to the tournaments though because my coach understood after a couple of times. He set up fights and I didn't go.

He was like, all right, this fucking guy just wants to train. And so he would let me do all that. And then we would go to tournaments and I would see Lennox Lewis because he was at a different gym in a different city. And I just knew him as a tall, skinny guy. I would periodically see him. And then in 88, Lennox won the gold medal for Canada in the Olympics. I remember being at Twilight Zone and I saw Lennox. He had just come back from the Olympics.

I was like, congrats, Len. He was like, hey, good to see you. Thanks, man. And subsequently him and I became very good friends over the years that's great um to this day we're still very close and um i'll show you something really cool that he sent me in september uh he was doing i don't know why i first i don't know why he sent this to me he sends me this video of him right and he's talking about him and i growing up together. And I'm like, okay, that's cool, but why'd you send me this fucking video? So he's doing this video about talking about people that grew up around him,

and he's talking about Russell Peters, and he's wearing this suit. And people that used to follow me go to some of my fights and lived where I lived in Toronto was the famous Russell Peters. I did I used to sell mixtapes look at the inside of that suit oh fuck yeah WBC champion. And he's actually over at my fireplace. And I'm showing him my belt and my pictures and all my clothes.

So he sends to my friend. He lined the jacket. The lining of the jacket is a picture of me and him. A photo of you and him. That's fantastic. And he didn't tell you that? Was it something you saw when he released it yeah no he sent it to me that's damn that's the picture in his suit wow that's fucking awesome yeah so it's pretty wild that uh you know you grew up with these kinds of people and then you think about the people that grew up around i think about the people that grew up in my neighborhood like people go fuck his brampton

for i mean like brampton came up with some we had some good people come out of brampton scott thompson from uh uh kids in the hall michael sirah brampton um the director little x okay he did all he does all of drake's videos now but he did like all the cool videos in the 90s they did like red man and he did sean pa videos. He's done all kinds of great videos. You and Lennox. Me and Lennox. Damn. There's a – that kid, he's a rapper now. Tory Lanez is from Brampton. Tristan Thompson is from Brampton.

Okay. There's a lot of people from my city. And you'll notice most of them are black. Like you said. Except for Scott and Michael. Yeah. So comedy starts a year later for you. Comedy starts a year later.

We were going to this nightclub one time. This must have been in the summer of 89. I hadn't turned 19 yet. You had to be 19 to get in the club. But I never usually got carded because I usually kind of knew somebody. But we went to this club in Brampton and, of course, they fucking card and I couldn't get in. So we're hanging out in the parking lot of this nightclub and I stand on my friend's bumper of his car and I start making fun of people. And they're like, oh, you need to do stand-up.

And then my cousin Andrew said something. We had a family thing and I started making jokes. He goes, you know, you're really funny. You should really go do stand-up you really and then my cousin andrew i said something we were hanging we had a family thing and i started making jokes because you know you're really funny you should really go do stand-up and when my cousin said it to me it rang true because my cousin's never fucking paid me a compliment before yeah then yeah it was like you go to yuck yucks and do stand-up i'm like really and then my parents started giving me pressure what are you going to do with your life what are you going to do with your life you're 19 you're gonna be 19 you don't have a fucking career you know no job nothing and i'm like i don't know my i told my brother my brother's like what do you want to do and you know? You're 19. You're going to be 19. You don't have a fucking career. You don't have no job, nothing. And I'm like, I don't know. I told my brother.

My brother's like, what do you want to do? And my brother's 25 at the time. I'm like, I don't know. Everybody told me I should do stand-up. He goes, well, why don't you try stand-up then? Have you ever seen it live? I go, I have never seen it live. So he took me to a couple of amateur nights to go watch.

And if you've only listened or watched professionals it's intimidating but if you go and watch amateurs you're like i'm better than that fucking guy yes and that's how i gauged it so i started watching live shows in september of 89 about a month and a half after i turned 19 i went and did it and then here we are 32 years years later. Dude, you're fucking just, I mean, it's funny to me. Sometimes, and this is no disrespect, I say Russell Peters and people are like, Russell Peters. And I'm like, well, he's one of the top three fucking earners on the Forbes list for comedy in the world.

And they're like, huh? And I'm like, he sold out Toronto Raptors. He sold out Madison Square Garden. For seven times, Madison Square Garden. He's one of the biggest comedians. O2 Arena, Tom opened for me there. Really? In that one, yeah.

In 2010 when I shot my green card tour special, I took Tom to England with me to open for me. Where is your favorite place to perform? Or one of them. Let's not single anyone out. I don't know because I really have a good time everywhere. Let's not single anyone out. I don't know because I really have a good time everywhere. Yeah.

Auckland, New Zealand is usually 99% of the time the best show on every tour. I don't know what it is about Auckland, but the audience gets it. And they laugh with you on every fucking joke. They're a good comedy audience. Good, great comedy audience. Great comedy audience. I was just texting with Israel Adesanya the other night, talking on DMs. And I said, I'm coming to nz next year he's like i'm coming i gotta be there for sure and i was like that's pretty fucking cool

that is great all right so now that we've talked about we've talked about advice to your 16 year old self what are you going back and telling russell at 16 russell at 16 i'm gonna tell him um work harder that's interesting focus more on what everything that you're doing okay whatever you're doing focus more pay attention more um and don't harbor all that anger that you had i had a lot of resentment towards a lot of things when I was growing up. And I realized that, you know, I went through,

I went through a phase of, of fucking a lot of women doing, breaking a lot of women's hearts, doing dirty. And, and I would tell him, don't do that in the future and pull out. Pull out, kid. Never trust a big butt and a smile truer words have never been said no doubt that girl is poison yes and i and it's funny

because i'll always call them i don't call them bell biv devoy just call them bell biv because um my uh current lady used to date ronnieos. Nah, you got to drop the D, bro. The only D you're getting is mine. That's fucking fantastic, dude. Thank you so much for coming on. We got to get you out of here. Thanks for making me come. I mean, wait a minute.

Son of a... Please promote everything again. Your podcast, your website for the tour dates that will be – Podcast. Culturally canceled with Russell Peters on iHeartRadio. You download it wherever you get your podcasts from. You know what's funny is I've done a fuckload of podcasts in my lifetime. You're Segura's, Joe's a bunch of times.

Is this your first one that you're doing yourself? First one that I'm doing myself. Oh, it is. Yeah, Rogan told me at the beginning. I did his podcast in July, and he was like, you need to do a podcast. I go, would you be a guest? He goes, yeah, I'll fucking be a guest. So I think he kind of lit the fire underneath me.

Good. And I don't know. I've done so many. I've never actually listened to one. Isn't that funny? I've never listened to a podcast in my life. I go to YouTube and watch clips of people's podcasts, but I've never actually sat and listened to one. It doesn't matter anyway.

Do what you want to do with it. That's the beauty of podcasting. Don't take anyone's fucking notes and do exactly what you think is best. It's exactly what mine is. Mine is just hanging out. Listen to me. This right here, and I know you and I are on different fucking levels, but I will tell you this. I don't look at anybody as a different level.

Well, I do because I'm looking up, motherfucker. And this may be the only thing we get to do in our careers that doesn't have someone weighing in somehow on it. I'm pretty sure there will be eventually depending on who distributes yours. Where's yours? I'm solo. I'm not sure there will be eventually, depending on who distributes yours. Where's yours? I'm solo. I'm not with a network. But it doesn't have to be. That's probably the way to do it.

Well, look, man. But look at this. You're solo, and you have a studio with logos and signs and pictures. I'm in my backyard. But you can be. And mine is only audio. Well, you've got to have video, bro. I know.

We're going to set you up. You've got to have that. I need to do that. I need to get better on that. All well tom's the guy tom sagor is the guy that brought me into ymh and then sent me out and you know i i say all the time you don't get the opportunity from a comedian and a friend like tom and then throw up a shower curtain behind you so i mean but you have the opportunity that's your podcast hey podcast. Hey, content's content, bro. Thank you all, as always, for your support.

Make sure you sign up on that YouTube channel. As always, Ryan Sickler. You have a Patreon channel? I do have a Patreon. It's called The Honeydew With Y'all. That's why I was. Nice. And his OnlyFans is coming up, guys.

I will have an OnlyFans eventually. Yeah. Because the older he gets, the bigger his balls get. They will look like honeydews. I'll show them to you. As always, Ryan Sickler on all social media, ryansickler.com. We'll talk to you you next time.